Grids, especially regular grids, are often used in laying out or deploying various elements or nodes of a system. For example, an array of seismic sensors or seismic sensor nodes (e.g., geophones or accelerometers) as a sensor system may be deployed over a field as a regular grid (e.g., a rectangular grid with even spacing between sensor nodes) in support of subsurface exploration activities. In another example, a grid of sensor nodes that provide measurements of a local environment (e.g., temperature, pressure, wind speed, moisture, etc.) may be employed to monitor weather patterns in a region. In yet another example, solar panels of a solar array system, water sprinklers, and even plants or seedlings in precision agriculture may be arranged and deployed in a regular array. In addition, many node-based systems that employ regular grids may require or at least benefit from a deployment that provides accurate information about specific node locations. For example, accurate node location information may be critical for reconstructing and analyzing data gathered from or with respect to the nodes (e.g., sensor nodes).
Unfortunately, deployment of nodes may be a technically difficult and overly time-consuming prospect, especially when location accuracy is an important factor. For example, to deploy an array of seismic sensor nodes in a field for subsurface structure exploration and mapping, grid points of the regular grid must first be determined and laid out across the field. Laying out the regular grid generally requires a two-person crew with accuracy being a function of the skill of the crew. The nodes (e.g., sensors nodes, seedlings, solar panels, etc.) then need to be placed on the determined grid points. Speed of node deployment may be improved by installing the nodes as the grid is established and laid out, for example. However, deployment speed may still be relatively slow since each grid location must first be individually measured prior to installing the node at each grid point.
Certain embodiments of the present invention have other features that are one of in addition to and in lieu of the features illustrated in the above-referenced figures. These and other features of the invention are detailed below with reference to the preceding drawings.